It’s now the month of Christmas and I’m not going to lie, I’m very excited. Christmas is definitely my favourite holiday and always has been. But in a similar spirit to Lolita fashion and Halloween, not all of us can justify buying a once-a-year kind of dress with a Christmas print. As much as I adore some of them, I know that I’d feel weird getting one, unless I found one for insanely cheap or unless it was a versatile enough print to wear at other times of the year (Marchen Die Prinzessin's The Nutcracker is my ideal here). How could you get that Christmas fantasy outfit without spending too much? Read on to find out!
The first and most obvious thing is colours. Red and green are most commonly associated with Christmas and both normal and jewel tones of these colours will work. You can also throw some brown, gold, silver and white into the mix. Then it’s all about utilising your coording skills to make something good: red and white to evoke the sweet spirit of candy canes and Santa Claus, green for resembling a Christmas tree, golds and silvers for ornaments, white for snow and brown for the gingerbreads and cakes. Whatever comes to your mind when you think of Christmas, deconstruct it to its main colours and create an outfit using those.
If you’re feeling ambitious, you can try adding an extra theme to your already themed outfit. Christmas is full of distinct characters and items, some of which may be entirely different depending on your culture, allowing for a fair breadth of possibilities (although avoid anything offensive or insensitive). From Santa's helpers to a cutesy gingerbread man, from the Nutcracker to Rudolph, from a present to a Christmas cake, you’re only limited by your imagination – and what your Lolidrobe can accommodate.
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| It's just some confetti, but you're already thinking of Christmas, aren't you? Photo from MadeIt.com.au |
If you’re feeling ambitious, you can try adding an extra theme to your already themed outfit. Christmas is full of distinct characters and items, some of which may be entirely different depending on your culture, allowing for a fair breadth of possibilities (although avoid anything offensive or insensitive). From Santa's helpers to a cutesy gingerbread man, from the Nutcracker to Rudolph, from a present to a Christmas cake, you’re only limited by your imagination – and what your Lolidrobe can accommodate.
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| Anyone else feels inspired to put together coords with Sweet Cream House? Photo from Pinterest. |
As always, accessories can make or break an outfit. If you’re on a very tight budget, I suggest getting these after Christmas, maybe even in January, when everything your local shops had goes on sale – Christmas ornaments are marked up in price when it gets to season. The good news is that with enough creativity and hot glue you could make literally anything out of Christmas decorations, from jewellery and hair accessories to adornments for your shoes and even bits of clothing (not Lolita, but when I was a child my Grandma made me a dress and used Christmas napkins to make the collar). Even better, you get to decide how permanent you want these decorations to be by making them as detachable or not as you wish, so whether you’re transforming a cheap dress into your Christmas staple or temporarily creating something themed, you’re in charge of it.
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| Don't overspend on once-a-year accessories - craft them using cheap decorations! Photo from LivingRichWithCoupons.com |
Personally, I don’t think it’s quite Christmas unless there’s some sparkle in it. There’s something about glitter that makes things feel that little bit more special. Wine red heabow is alright, but wine red headbow with a glitter ribbon on or around it is fancy! However, if you have the skills you could create the sparkle out of fairy lights. These don’t have to be your standard coloured Christmas tree lamps, there are battery-operated fairy lights available all year round and at Christmas you may even find them in some fancy shapes (last year I spotted some that looked like birdcages), so if they’re standard enough, the piece you make with them could even be used at other times of the year. But regardless, whether it’s glitter or lights, you need that bit of sparkle to evoke the nostalgic magical image of Christmas.
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| It's not real Christmas without the sparkle. Photo by Rich Harrison on Flickr. |
Finally, on a slightly more practical note, think about the fabrics you’re using. Although it’s getting increasingly difficult to get a cheap blouse that is not chiffon, Christmas for all of us in the Northern hemisphere is in winter, which means cold, which means dressing up warm and cosy. If your coord incorporates not only the most common colours, but also fabrics – anything that’s heavy and warm, so velvet/velveteen, heavy cotton, wool, faux fur, knits etc. – that will help evoke the right thoughts and connotations. But don’t take my word for it, just compare the dresses here: even though neither has a print, the velvet one feels more suitable for winter (and therefore Christmas) coords than the lighter chiffon one. They will also keep you warmer during the meet, which is always a nice extra to have, although beware of them killing your petticoats.
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| AatP Le Clair Chiffon JSK |
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| BtSSB Velveteen Candy Ribbon JSK |
You could probably take the formula of colour + fabric + accessories and apply it to any holiday you could celebrate: Valentine’s Day, Easter, St Patrick’s Day, Independence Days of a variety of countries… Although granted, Christmas, Halloween, Easter and, to some extent, Valentine’s are the ones that get their own prints released by Japanese brands, but still – you don’t have to have a print of that theme to create a themed coord for the occasion.
In any case, I’ll be out here, keeping my eye out for Christmas prints dropping in price enough to justify me buying one, but until then I’ll be improvising with what I have using the tricks above. How about you? Are you a Christmas print collector or also can’t justify a once-a-year dress? What is your favourite holiday and have you done a themed outfit for it yet? I’m very curious to find out!
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